Hey there! It's been so long since I've written a fanfic. I really don't know why I've decided to write this story and admittedly, my writing skills have become a little too rusty. But for some reason, my gut just won't stop bothering me unless I finally let it out of my system (kinda like pooping :P).
This one's inspired by one of my most favorite Korean dramas of all time, "Princess Hours", and is a contribution to my beautiful submarine OTP SasuHina. I've been on the NaruHina mood for quite awhile, especially with all the canon goodies coming out. But seems to me that SasuHina fits this story a lot more, so there you go! Hope you enjoy and leave a review if you can! The more reviews or favorites, the higher the chance I update this! ;)
As usual, I apologize if the characters seem OOC by your standards, and if there're any important mistakes here, please feel free to tell me! I did finish this late at night, so I'm sorry that my eyes got a little too hazy to miss the mistakes. Also, if anyone knows the proper way on how the Japanese call the royalty respectively, please do help out.
((P.S.: Also, anyone hear about that wonderful little spoiler about SasuHina having their first real interaction in the upcoming Boruto The Movie? :D))
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Chapter 1
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Lavender-white eyes nervously glanced up as she surveyed the scowling man standing in front of her, flinching back as she felt his murderous, dark glare targeted towards her bowed head.
It was an accident, really. She didn't realize that she fell asleep during free period in the library when the school bell rang. Obviously, she became frantic as she packed her art materials up in a rush and ran off towards the other side of the building, not even bothering to check if her face and hair are alright nor did she double-check if her bag was shut tightly.
And then WHAM!
Scattered books, canvases, and an unfortunate loose red jar of paint flew all about like bees. The red paint splattered all over the man's light gray uniform blazer's left sleeve, earning horrified gasps from all around who witnessed this unfortunate accident.
It didn't help at all that the man she spilled paint on happened to be the Crown Prince of Konoha.
After a few long seconds of tense silence, murmurs began to echo within the hall.
"Omigosh! Did you see what that girl just did?!" Someone from the watching crowd whispered.
"She just spilled paint on Sasuke Uchiha, THE Prince Sasuke Uchiha!" Murmured another.
"Oh, she's soooo going to get it!"
"She's not going to be executed just because she spilled paint on the Prince's uniform, isn't she?"
"Don't be ridiculous. But I bet with whatever punishment comes her way, she'd wish that it were the death penalty instead."
She couldn't even hear the whispers going on behind her back. The scared girl could only stare blankly at the man's shoes as it slowly crawled to her mind the weight of what she had done.
"… I-I-"
"Hey, you."
The girl jumped slightly at being called out by the obviously pissed off prince, but didn't dare lift her head.
"Look at me." He commanded, impatience laced in his tone.
She gulped. Her eyes were beginning to water. She bit her bottom lip in an effort to hold them back as she finally lifted her head and looked directly at the scowling face of Sasuke Uchiha.
The man seemed to have calmed down, a tiny bit, and as he looked at his offender's panicked face, he lifted a dark brow.
"A Hyuuga, huh?"
The girl gulped again, bowing multiple times, almost reminding him of the tiny annoying bobble head figure Naruto had in his car. "Uh… y-y-yes, Uchiha-sama. I-I apologise for th-the offense I've done… I-I swear, it was an a-accident-"
The Uchiha lifted a hand up with shut eyes, immediately silencing the stuttering girl.
"I don't need to hear your excuses."
"…"
Suddenly, the dark-haired man shook off his ruined blazer from his back and tossed it towards the Hyuuga. The girl blinked in surprise as the blazer fell into her arms, unaware of the few squeals from the girls in the crowd excited to see the prince undress.
"Throw it away. I don't need it anymore," he said.
She stood up instantly in confusion. "B-B-But I can clean it up for you to make up for my mistake, a-and I can return it-!"
"I said I don't need it anymore." Sasuke repeated harshly, his dark eyes flashing towards the Hyuuga with warning.
The frightened girl could only step back and bow her head in shame as the prince walked past her. Stopping in front of the now empty red jar of paint, his head slightly turned her way.
"I thought that Hyuugas are supposed to have very good eyesight. But it seems to me that the clan doesn't really have anything to boast about anymore."
He kicked aside the jar, and it rolled until it bumped to a stop onto the girl's black loafers.
The crowd quickly divided like the Red Sea as Sasuke walked past them, not wanting to suffer under the wrath of a tried prince like the poor Hyuuga girl did. As soon as he left, the crowd dispersed and went on about their ways. Some of them took out their phones to quickly spread the news of what had just happened.
"Hinata!" A brunette, bun-headed girl skidded towards the unmoving Hyuuga. "Omigoodness, are you alright?"
Hinata could only nod in response as she knelt down to gather her scattered belongings. The bunhead shook her head as she helped her friend pack her things up.
"That was really harsh of him. Kami, and I used to think he was some sort of Prince Charming just like his older brother." She waved a paintbrush at her friend. "But whoa, was I completely wrong. But don't worry about it, Hinata. He's cold to, well, everybody in school. Except for his posse I guess. Surprisingly, Naruto's part of that group despite being a complete idiot."
"Thank you, Tenten-san. B-But it was my fault really." Hinata clicked her bag of art supplies shut and stood up, patting the dust off her uniform skirt. "I'm just glad that I didn't get severely punished or anything."
She shuddered as she remembered the way his dark, scary eyes glared at her; she could've sworn they turned blood red. She clutched the Uchiha's abandoned blazer in one hand in discomfort.
Tenten patted her friend's shoulder as they began walking. "Still, I'm sorry for not helping out. I'm such a bad friend, I know I should've defended you, but I couldn't risk my scholarship…"
Hinata gave the sad brunette a sincere smile. "That's alright, Tenten-san. I mean, I wouldn't want you to be punished just for defending me. Anyone would be afraid to confront Uchiha-sama, I don't blame you one bit."
"Yeah, well, in any case, I'm kinda proud of you, Hinata. If this happened waaaaay before, you would've fainted on the spot." She laughed.
Hinata flinched as she suddenly remembered a passing memory of her collapsing during a confession right in the middle of the classroom.
She shook off the memory just as the words the Uchiha prince spoke to her rewinded back to her mind.
"But… h-he really didn't have to include the Hyuuga clan into it. What happened was completely my doing. Just because I made a mistake doesn't mean that the whole clan takes responsibility for it as well."
"Don't mind him about those matters." Tenten waved a hand dismissively. "You know how the Uchihas and the Hyuugas are with each other. And it's not just because of the long conflict of the royal bloodlines too. I'm sure his little rivalry with Neji also gave a helping hand to the way he treated you."
"I-I suppose. But still."
"Hinata, cheer up!" Tenten flung an arm around her friend's shoulder. "The good news is that nothing serious happened, right? I mean, it's not as if you were waving a kitchen knife around him. You only spilled a little paint on him. And luckily, he didn't do anything drastic except telling you to throw away his uniform blazer, that's it. And speaking of which-" She pointed at the said item. "Why're you still holding onto it? Didn't you hear the Royal Highness's specific orders?"
Hinata giggled as her brunette friend tried to copy the Uchiha's higher-than-thou expression. "Tenten-san! That's not very nice, you know."
"Well, he's not very nice himself." Tenten stuck her tongue out. "But really, what are you going to do with it? You could totally sell this for a fortune to the Sasuke Uchiha fan club! Or put it on display in the Royal Konoha Museum as "The Prince Having His Period On His Armpits" artwork. I'm sure that money would've helped you out for the next ten years."
The Hyuuga opened her mouth to answer when the school bell rang a second time. Recalling that she was initially in a hurry for her art class, the Hyuuga sighed in resignation as she thought about the real punishment she's about to receive. She fingered her thick blunt bangs.
"I guess I'll think about it during detention."
"Welcome home, Uchiha-dono. The Emperor awaits for you in his office." A refined man looking to be in his early forties bowed at the prince. His hair was greying, and he wore a black kimono with the Uchiha clan symbol printed on his back.
Sasuke grunted in response as he switched his school shoes for slippers and entered the Palace. He ignored the confused look his butler gave him when he noticed that he wasn't wearing his uniform blazer, especially since the cold season's just starting.
But then again, he shouldn't be so surprised. After all, he did have a reputation for being quite… rebellious.
The Imperial Palace was styled in an old-fashioned manner, painted in the accents of white, red, and black with the Uchiha clan's symbols painted on most of the walls and lanterns. It has been the home of the Uchiha family for two centuries, after the clan overpowered the Hyuugas during what they called the Great Blood Moon War.
While the outside of the Palace was very traditional, on the inside the interior was completely refurbished to a more modern approach, for safety reasons and to keep up appearances. They had golden chandeliers and intricately designed antiques from age-old experts as well as several paintings from famous artists all over the world. One of the main attractions of the Palace however was the large, vast garden filled with all kinds of colorful flowers and cherry blossom trees, something Sasuke's mother, Empress Mikoto, had helped create. A large century-old Oak Tree sat in the middle of the garden, beside a small red bridge overlapping a pond of Koi fish.
It was there where Sasuke would usually hide whenever he felt like he needed time alone, which was always. It's tall, sturdy branches and thick leaves concealed him from sight, and even if they did spot him, none of the Palace's servants were that athletic, so it would be difficult for them to climb up the tree to take him down, which frustrated his parents to no end when he was just a child. They had to ask the royal guards called ANBU to bring him down whenever he got stuck up the tree.
If it weren't for his brother, Sasuke would've spent plenty more time up in that tree. But alas, his older brother, Itachi, just had to abdicate the throne in order to selfishly pursue his dream to travel all over the world without limitations; to see all the different cultures and traditions and the beauty of their lands. Or at least, that's what Itachi wrote on his goodbye letter.
It was because of his selfish brother that the then 12-year-old Sasuke was suddenly thrust into the role of the Crown Prince, expected to be the role model everyone wanted him to be of which his older brother had done perfectly before giving up his birthright.
It was because of that he no longer had any free time to himself and was forced to take lessons everyday after school with his father and the Royal council and attend elite occasions and parties with his mother to promote their goodwill.
And when his 21st birthday would arrive, which was two years from now, he would be formally announced to be the official next-in-line as Emperor after his father, Fugaku Uchiha.
Of course, it's not like the commoners didn't know that. But because of an old-age rule of which the second-in-line cannot officially become the first until he has become an adult in age, which was 21 for the Royal Family, the people had to respect that and wait until then to officially receive their new future King.
For Sasuke, it was a huge enough burden to be part of the Royal family, to be expected to stand up straight and smile all the time and pretend to be polite to greedy aristocrats even though the one thing you'd love to do was get away from it all and just lock yourself up in your room until they all go away.
Now everyone expected him to be in the middle of the spotlight all the time, to surpass his older brother's reputation, and to be accepted wholeheartedly as the new Crown Prince of Konoha.
Of course, that was an impossible feat, especially with the Hyuuga clan still around waiting for their chance, that tiny slip-up, to take the crown back, or at least that's what Sasuke's father thought.
But whatever the case, Sasuke felt trapped. His friends kept telling him that he's got to be the luckiest guy alive to have such fame, fortune, and not to mention, all the girls' attentions, and he didn't have to do a single thing to achieve that status.
Oh how wrong they really were.
It wasn't a privilege; it was a cage. Everyone would want to know what he's doing, what good he's done, what terrible decisions he's made, which will make it easy for everyone to blame him when something goes wrong.
He was supposed to be the epitome of perfection.
And for awhile, he was just that.
It was during his 17th birthday when the prince snapped and was caught drunk and illegally driving his mother's brand new car with his posse outside the palace, eventually ending with an accident by hitting a tree. Luckily, nobody got seriously hurt; only his goody goody reputation and his mother's poor car.
Since then, he began to suffer in the eyes of the media, rumored to getting drunk and starting fist fights on occasions, sleeping with different girls, partying in places unfit for royalty, and so and so.
Thus, he was thereby named by the media, "The Black Rose Prince".
Also called by some as the "Royal Pain In The Ass".
Because of this, several people have placed their doubts on the teenager. Some had even hoped that the Hyuugas would take back their heritage, although no one had spoken of this aloud in fear of being punished. But with no one else potentially capable of taking over the throne and Itachi's apparent refusal of taking back his birthright if his broken communication with his family was any reference, the people could only hope that the Prince would outgrow his petty rebellious phase and would someday become the worthy King everyone hoped he would be.
Which was why in order to gain back some trust from the public, the young prince had to cut back any of his free time aside from school and spend all his time in the Palace, only allowed to leave when permitted by his parents to attend school field trips or accompany them to royal affairs.
Not to mention, the extra ANBU bodyguards who would watch his every move with the exception of inside the campus and the Palace.
Which was why he couldn't dilly-dally and refuse his father's orders to see him in his office. Or he'd get another earful and be punished by attending all upcoming banquets (shudders!) alone. Oh, and maybe be disowned if he did enough trouble. That wouldn't really surprise him anymore, if it weren't for the fact that he was the only one capable of becoming Crown Prince.
Damn his only cousin, Shisui, for having a worse reputation than him.
The young prince stopped before his father's office door. The butler stepped back and bowed his head formally.
"Shall I prepare anything for you in your room, Uchiha-dono?"
"No. You may leave, Jurou."
After being handed Sasuke's school bag, Jurou bowed again and was then off to do his other chores. The Uchiha sighed as he knocked softly on the wooden sliding door.
"Enter."
The dark-haired teenager slid the door open and went to silently settle on the cushion seat in front of his father's office table. Emperor Fugaku sat behind the table, dipping his pen into a cartridge of ink rather harshly before signing a contract swiftly for whatever it's supposed to be, spilling some of its contents on the table. He cursed as he mumbled that it was the tenth time that day.
Despite the Palace having modern interiors, Emperor Fugaku's office was one of the only rooms that remained true to its original, old design. He had always disliked contemporary styles.
The Emperor placed, or rather threw the paper on top of a bunch of other signed contracts before crossing his arms together and settling his hard, dark eyes onto his youngest son with a gruff sigh.
If Sasuke were to be frank, his father seems to be in a rough mood today.
"So I gather school went well today, hm?" his deep, booming voice echoed throughout the walls. Sasuke would've cowered in fear if he weren't already used to this tone.
"Yes, Chichi-Ue." Sasuke replied without emotion. After years of practice, the young prince has become an expert in putting up a neutral face. It used to be difficult when he was just a child; his father always scolded him for being too vulnerable with his emotions, which was not a good trait for a Prince, let alone a King. But as he grew older, he began to find it easier to hide his emotions behind his mask, just as easy as switching on a light. Otherwise, his father would've been able to tell if something… unexpected happened during his day.
Like having a Hyuuga girl spill paint on your uniform.
Emperor Fugaku narrowed his eyes. "Good. I hope this continues until you graduate. We've still a long way to go until we completely earn back the public's trust after all the scandals you've brought into our family years ago."
Sasuke's brow twitched slightly, but kept up his unfazed expression. "Understood."
"Good. At least as far as that's concerned, that would be the only good thing that has happened today."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that, Chichi-Ue?"
The Emperor cleared his throat, resting his elbows on his desk with his chin leaning on his overlapped hands. His frown had always seemed to be permanent on his face, but if you were an expert with Fugaku expressions, this frown meant that he was truly irritated at something. Or someone.
"A letter has been discovered hidden in the archives last night. A letter written by my grandmother, Yuuki Uchiha, wife of the first Emperor of the Uchiha reign."
The young prince nodded once.
"It was found hidden in her diary, of which was only scanned through by the royal scholars yesterday. No one was allowed to see the contents of the letter except for the reigning Emperor of today, and only him."
Sasuke was slightly confused. If that was so, then why is he telling him this?
Fugaku grumbled before going on.
"… It seems that she had befriended the wife of the Hyuuga leader at that time, and that they had made some sort of silly proposal."
Silly proposal?
"And what does that have to do with me?"
The Emperor crossed his arms again, his eyes shooting daggers at the wall behind his son.
"… In the hopes of uniting the two powerful clans with goodwill and to settle whatever differences we have with them, Her Royal Highness's future great grandson, the Crown Prince of this era would therefore be betrothed to the Heiress of the Hyuuga clan of this era."
Silence overwhelmed the Emperor's office. The only sound they could hear were the chirping of the birds outside the office's window.
"…. What?"
"It's a foolish agreement." His father grunted. "I don't understand why my grandmother would ever think of uniting our clan with the" He made a disgusted face, "Hyuugas. I don't know how my grandmother did it, maybe she had tricked my grandfather or blackmailed him into signing the contract while he was drunk like he always was during celebration banquets, I don't know. But both the Uchiha and Hyuuga leaders' official signatures are on it. In other words, it's a legal contract."
Sasuke's mask began cracking slowly. He couldn't help it. All his life, he's been told that the Hyuuga clan has been bad news to the Royal family, and that has been proven to him even further when his conflict with Neji intensified. Not to mention what had happened earlier with the ditzy Hyuuga girl.
"… But if that's so, shouldn't Itachi be the one betrothed to that Hyuuga heiress. Technically, he is the first-born and is still officially the first-in-line until my 21st birthday." Sasuke managed to say out.
His father gave a large, frustrated sigh. His gaze fell to the small window on the wall on his right. "Unfortunately, Itachi has not contacted us for awhile. And with him travelling all over the world, who knows where that brat went to this time."
The young Uchiha watched his father's almost wanting expression in slight bemusement. As angry as Fugaku was for Itachi abdicating the throne, he's still a father who cares for his son, after all. It was a relief for Sasuke to know that his older brother was still missed, despite outward appearances.
The Emperor snapped his dark eyes back towards his younger son, seemingly back to his bitter mood.
"And since you, my son, are becoming the new King after all, this burden of marrying the Hyuuga would have to fall on your shoulders."
Sasuke frowned at his father's compliance. Normally, his father would always find a way to get out of it or get his way no matter what it took. But for an agreement that had seemingly struck on his very last nerve, he's surprisingly yielding to this stupid contract made by their irrational ancestors.
"So you're saying you actually agreed to this contract?"
The Emperor tapped his fingers together, his frown began to smoothen slightly.
"Well, after some… deep thinking, I realized that maybe, just maybe, this marriage of convenience might actually work."
The young man tilted his head slightly sideward, silently asking for an explanation.
Fugaku took a deep breath, and to add to Sasuke's confusion, the corner of his lips lifted slightly. "Still, while it is an official contract, it would not work if one or both sides of the clan would not comply."
"I don't completely understand."
"In other words, if you or the Hyuuga heiress would refuse to marry each other, then the agreement becomes null."
That's not exactly the question Sasuke wanted an answer from. He frowned, befuddled of what his father's trying to do.
"Then if that's the case, then why are we even discussing this? Of course I refuse. And I'm certain that you're obviously not on board with this agreement."
Although marrying a Hyuuga was one of the last things the young Uchiha wanted or ever dreamed to do, there was actually another reason why he wouldn't want to agree with an arranged marriage with anyone.
Sakura Haruno.
She's been his childhood friend along with Naruto since elementary, which made her one of the two people who really knew the real Sasuke and liked him no matter what. It was only during the end of high school when he realized that he's in love with Sakura, and that she had loved him all along. Since then, they've been secretly together, and only Naruto knew about their secret relationship. On the outside, in everybody's eyes, they were close only because they were childhood friends so nobody would think much of their interactions, but only the trio knew the truth.
While Sasuke had initially been the one who's afraid of commitment, it was Sakura who had a lot to lose if they made their relationship go public. She'd lose her privacy, her normalcy, and most of all, she might not be able to pursue her dream of becoming one of the greatest doctors in the world, something she wouldn't be able to be if she became Crown Princess.
But something was still not right. His father definitely had some sort of tactic up his sleeve. Studying his father's face, he could've sworn that his dark onyx eyes brightened up, something that rarely happened unless he succeeded in doing something that was initially deemed impossible.
"We are going to agree with this contract."
If Sasuke was confused before, now his brain was in complete turmoil.
His father only leaned back, his glinting eyes slightly discerning.
"We're going to announce that you've agreed to marry the Hyuuga heiress not only for the good of the clans but also of Konoha. The people of Konoha would surely rejoice, not only would this elevate your reputation, all the other countries would know who they're dealing with if ever they've foolishly decided to terminate our trust. This'd be the Wedding of the Century. Some kind of Cinderella fairy tale, whatever the people want to believe. It'll take people's focus off the problems of our economy and then some."
"So basically, you're making me the sacrificial lamb to temporarily distract the people from the real problems this country's suffering? And obviously, I don't really have a say to this." Sasuke crossed his arms. He should've known that something like this would eventually happen.
His father's frown grew deeper. "If you say it that way, it sounds like I'm using you. But know this, Sasuke, this is not only for the country, but also for you. With the Hyuuga as your wife, you'll practically be unstoppable. As much as I dislike the Hyuugas, I cannot deny that they're a powerful clan on its own. With our two clans combined, well, that's something that would benefit everyone."
"But you mentioned that the contract is null if she disagrees. What if she says no?" Sasuke asked.
"If for whatever reason, the Hyuugas disagree with this contract… Well, we're not the bad guys here. That'll give the people another reason not to support the Hyuuga rebels who still couldn't accept defeat from a war that ended two centuries ago. Either way, the Uchiha clan would benefit from both decisions."
The young prince could only stare at his father in disbelief. To think that his father could turn this trap into an opportunity to make their family look good. Still, he had to admit that his father had some good points. The people have been complaining so much about the Uchiha rule, sometimes for very stupid reasons, that giving something like a wedding between two clashing clans would lift off some load off his parents' backs.
Still, he couldn't bring himself to agree.
How in the world was he going to tell Sakura?
And not that he cared about Naruto, but he knew that that idiot had feelings for Sakura since childhood. He knew that if he hurt Sakura, Naruto's never going to forgive him, not after he gave up his pursuit to make way for his friend. He'd hate to lose both his love and his best friend.
Besides, all the Hyuugas he'd met so far haven't really been on good terms with him. He wouldn't be surprised at all if he and his "betrothed" would end up hating each other.
He was still curious though as to who this heiress was. He knew that the clan was separated into a main and branch family, but he had no idea who's who in the main family except for the fact that the Hyuuga leader had two daughters. All he knew, and to his relief, was that Neji's not of the main family and was not a female.
But it wasn't like he could have had his way anyway. He'd have to explain everything to Sakura before she heard it from anyone else, and then think of a way to get out of the situation without tarnishing the Uchiha clan's name.
For now, his only hope was to find out who this mystery Hyuuga heiress was and to scare her off the marriage.
"… So who's this heiress I'm supposed to marry?" he asked cautiously.
Fugaku took out a yellow folder from his drawer and handed it to his son.
"I sent a letter to the clan earlier explaining of the situation. Expectedly, they weren't very happy with the contract, but we were able to prove its legitimacy as soon as they found a matching letter in their archives as well. Fortunately, they agreed to think about it. The main head, Hiashi, sent this file of his eldest daughter to us to just this afternoon."
The younger Uchiha unfastened the folder and quickly skimmed the paper with the heiress's information.
She's 18-years-old, studies in Konoha University as an Arts Major, loves to cook, paint, and press flowers, and her name is…
He flipped to the second page that revealed her picture. His eyes widened as he took in her face.
Blunt bangs, dark blue waist-length hair, a round-ish face, lavender-white eyes, and that familiar, timid expression that reminded him of a frightened mouse caught in a trap.
The same mouse whom just spilled red paint on his uniform that morning.
"Hinata Hyuuga, huh?"